Course Description: This course is designed
to introduce deterministic operations research modeling and methodology. It is
designed to strengthen the students' knowledge and application of operations
research techniques, provide the student with hands-on experience using
micro-computer software in the field and to evaluate the applicability of such
techniques to industry, government and science. A working knowledge of matrix
algebra is essential.

Software: You will be expected to use a modeling language to complete
your project. You need to download:

MPL (Maximal Software Corporation), available by
downloading from the internet (http://www.maximal-usa.com). This software is
also provided with the textbook -- in a disk at the back of the text.

Main Goals:

To improve decision-making with operations principles and
methods, specifically:

To learn about a broad range of contemporary
operations research methods and their applications to the real world.

To learn about the role of uncertainty and use of
data in decision-making.

To learn to communicate effectively.

Basic Skills:

Formulating basic optimization problems and solving
them using a modeling language

Homework problems will be assigned at each
session. Some or all of the assignments will be collected and graded.

There will be one in-class midterm exam and the
final will also be in class. All exams will be open book and open notes.

There will also be one project that will require
the formulation and solution to an optimization problem.

Grades will be computed as follows:

The midterm will count as 30%,

The project will count for 20%,

Homework will count 15%, and

The final will be worth the
remaining 35%.

Course Outline:

The course will include all or part of the
following chapters from the Hillier and Lieberman text, covered in the indicated
sequence. The exact scheduling will depend upon the interests of the class,
which will determine the amount of time that will be devoted to each topic.

(1) Make-up exams will only be given for extreme
situations, and only if I am contacted before the exam is given and full
arrangements are established. Full adherence to this policy is the
responsibility of the student.

(2) The exam dates above are tentative, and it is
the student's responsibility to keep abreast of changes.

(3) Homework will be assigned each class, and
usually collected. All work must be clearly written. Illegible work will not
be accepted.

(4) There is a
penalty of 10% of the total grade for each day that the homework is late.